GSoI: Looking back on Orientate (Part 2)

Mmmmmmmm... So lunch was delicious, all were in agreement on that point. The cosy atmosphere of the canteen also provided a good opportunity for guests, speakers and board members alike to relax and discuss the conference so far. We felt that this was a very important element to include in the day. Opportunities for the Irish glass community to mingle are rare enough and we wanted to ensure the day left some room for everyone to re-connect and make some new connections.

Lunch finished and food digesting nicely we made our way back to the lecture hall. While the first half of the conference featured talks from speakers whose professional careers had been led by glass/craft but did not work with the material directly, the latter half was devoted to artists working with glass specifically.

Angela Thwaites 

First up was the wonderful Angela Thwaites. Angela is a glass artist, researcher and teacher based in London. She works predominately in kiln-cast glass and has been involved extensively in numerous research projects on refractory mould making for glass.  She talked about her practice and the development of her career which began with an undergraduate degree in glass and ceramics from Farnham College of Art and Design, Surry. A monumental point in her career occurred in 1983 when she was awarded a scholarship to study under one of the all-time masters of glass casting; Professor Libensky. After receiving three more consecutive scholarships, she completed her MA at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague in 1985. 

Angela pointed out that the meaning of orientate is ‘to determine one’s position with reference to another point’.  She described her extensive career as a journey where, “each experience leads to another.” Her study period under the Czech master was a pivotal point in her practice. After it she was part of a research project at the Royal College of Art and in 2010 she was commissioned to write a book Mould Making for Glass which followed on from the findings of the project. She reminded us that any small opportunity such as a conversation at a conference perhaps or an exhibition call, could lead to the next important step in our careers. She also stressed that an open mind and willingness to never stop learning are paramount to progression.

The other area of Angela’s career which she feels has really brought her many valuable experiences is teaching. Angela is currently senior lecturer in Design Crafts at De Montfort University, Leicester and a tutor at Richmond Adult and Community College. In addition, she has taught at numerous institutions as a visiting lecturer and continues to teach workshops and master-classes in glass casting internationally. She finds teaching very rewarding and feels she often learns as much from students as they learn from her. We were delighted to have Angela teach a casting workshop in NCAD just prior to the symposium. She truly is a passionate and engaging educator. All the workshop participants enjoyed her warm, relaxed manner and genuine enthusiasm towards their casting projects. In addition to her teaching duties Angela works from her own studio which is slowly taking over her back garden. She is currently working on several projects, assisted by her cat!

Our second practitioner talk was from Slovenian artist and designer Tanja Pak(pronounced Tanya). Tanja is currently head of the glass and ceramics programme at the Academy of Fine Art and Design in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. Tanja’s talk was entitled ‘Immersed in Duality’ and she focused on her relationship with glass as both an artist and a designer.

Tanja Pak

Her work is influenced by the rhythm and flow of the natural world. She works from a restrained colour pallet; black, white and transparent glass, so nothing distracts from the organic simplicity of her forms. Tanja began her career as an industrial designer, graduating in 1994 from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana. This initial training in design is evident in how her complex ideas are simplified and expressed as functional glassware which is manufactured in collaboration with Slovenian glass factories. The glass tableware is functional and stylish and has received honourable mentions in the Red Dot Design Awards. While it is very commercially successful, evidence of the artist’s passions and influences still remain. The design of the vessels echo water drops and ripples. Graceful curves and soft lines give these manufactured pieces a very organic and feminine feel. Tanja does not see a difference, as such, between her practice as a designer and as an artist. The same inspirations create both lines of work; they are two sides of the same coin and walking the line between them is an exciting challenge for her.

There is a meditative quality to all her work – quiet and still, a frozen moment. It is most evident in her large installations which are often immersive environments incorporating smells and sounds as well as lighting and visuals. An example of one such installation was Within at Ljubljana Castle, 2010. This work featured cast glass branches, illuminated within wooden ‘trees’. The room was darkened and visitors’ footsteps muted by the chipped bark across the floor. The bark also filled the room with an earthy smell, further enhancing the illusion of being in meditative woodland. The atmosphere Tanja creates in her installations is one of tranquillity and reflection. She uses glass for its special relationship with light which becomes part of the complete experience of the work. “Glass for me”, she said, “is pure poetry”. Her talk showed numerous slides and videos of her installation but I imagine they cannot compete with seeing the work in person – I hope I get the chance to do so one day.

Cappy Thompson 

Wrapping up a very successful and informative day was CappyThompson who came all the way from her native Seattle, Washington, USA. Cappy is regarded as one of the world’s best glass painters, a master of the grisaille or gray-tonal painting technique. However, the material glass or the technique she uses is not of central importance to her. Cappy is first and foremost a painter and what is important is the narrative content of the work rather than its canvas. She is self-taught in glass working, beginning as a stained glass painter. Her initial paintings were influenced by folk art and mythology. While the design of her imagery still references this style of drawing the content developed to become entirely her own and is drawn from her personal life experiences and dreams.

Cappy’s lecture dealt with her beginnings as an artist and then traced the development of her style and career through the content of her work. The audience, at least many that I spoke to afterwards, were really moved by Cappy’s lecture. It caught you off guard; one minute she would be telling a cheerful anecdote about an element in the story, the next moment she would reveal a very personal and painful memory. Her talk was warm, sincere and unassuming and I think it really allowed the audience to connect with the work she shared with us. The narrative style of her work easily captures the imagination, enriched by the detail and jewel-like colours. Hearing the story behind each of the characters she paints makes the beautiful work even more appealing.

Cappy has been producing her unique work for over thirty years and in that time she has taught workshops internationally in major glass institutions. We at GSoI made the most of Cappy’s visit to Ireland – she taught a great workshop at the National Sculpture Factory in Cork before the conference and another great one to the National College of Art and Design glass students the week after in Dublin. It wasn’t all work though, she did get to see Cork, Dublin and lots of beautiful Irish countryside while she was here and we assure you, she said she really enjoyed her stay!

When the talks finished up we headed over to Tactic Gallery at Sample Studios for the opening of Sofie Loscher’s exhibition Waiting in the Wings. Sofie’s exhibition one of two exhibitions curated by GSoI’s vice-chairperson Emer Lynch to coincide with the symposium. Our guest speaker Jerome Harrington formally opened the exhibition after a brief curator’s speech from Emer. Conference guests and speakers had a chance network and mingle a little more at the exhibition with a well earned cold beer. The second exhibition in the 'Orientate' visual arts programme, These Liquid Brinks featured artist Caroline Doolin and was opened at The Guesthouse on Sunday November 3^rd with a tea and cake reception. The exhibitions were very well received – but I won’t say more than that because Emer has promised me a much more exciting article discussing both them and her work as a curator in more detail in the New Year, thanks Emer.

GSoI Team with speakers and artists at Tactic 

Tanja Pak and Fiona Bryne

'Orientate' was a great success for the GSoI in 2013. 

Many thanks to all who were a part of it and cheers to something even better next year!   

About the author

Meadhbh McIlgorm studied glass at the National College of Art and Design and graduated in June 2013. She is the GSoI Media and Communications Officer; those of you present at ‘Orientate’ would have seen her at the registration desk and the rest of you are probably familiar with her monthly e-bulletins and notifications. 

She is currently Artist in Residence in the NCAD glass department.  

GSoI: Looking back on 'Orientate' 2013

the auction exhibition in CIT Crawford College foyer
(photo Michael Holly, 2013) 

   

Dear reader, On Saturday the 2^nd of November 2013 the recently re-formed Glass Society of Ireland held its first international symposium; ‘Orientate’ in CIT Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork. Early that morning our favourite GSoI members (I joke, we have no favourites – we just hope even more of you can make it next year) sacrificed their Saturday lie-in to join us for a day of stimulating talks and presentations from a variety of glass practitioners, craft writers and curators.

The choice to include such a range of professional fields amongst our speakers was deliberate. We are acutely aware that the future of glass as an art material relies upon much more than a talented artists working alone in a studio. Everyone is connected by a vital network of dependency – the artists, the writer, the curator, the buyer. The symposium ‘Orientate’ was aptly titled; this conference aimed to uncover how contextualising the material has underpinned glass as an occupation - exploring how we orientate ourselves around the material.

Mimmo Paladino: El Rabdomante, Glasstress 2013

Our first speaker that morning was our keynote speaker Dr Francesca Giubilei. We asked Francesca to give the keynote address as she is Project Manager and Curators Assistant for the pioneering Glasstress exhibition. Glasstress, a satellite exhibition of the world renowned Venice Biennale, seeks to open up the use of glass as a material by giving artists access to the incredible skills and expertise of Murano’s glass-masters to produce work.

 

With her charming Italian accent, Francesca talked us through the origins of Glasstress, a project she described as ‘a bridge between the old idea of glass and the future.’ Projects like Glasstress are breaking down the perception of glass as a disciplined craft material and injecting it into the ‘anything’s possible’ world of contemporary fine art. Francesca’s lecture really set the tone about the pivotal point that glass is at today. The Glasstress exhibition 2013 was on show in Venice until the 24^th of November and will travel to the London College of Fashion next year.  

Helen Story: The Dress of Glass and Flame, Glasstress 2013 

After Dr Giubilei’s lecture the audience had the opportunity to ask questions and converse. An interesting discussion arose from the audience about the importance of ‘intellectual property’ when a glass-master is involved in the production of an artwork. Do projects like Glasstress undermine the technical skills and achievements of the glass-masters? Many of the makers present in the audience felt slightly uncomfortable with the idea that this style of a conceptually led project might be the way forward for glass. While everyone seemed to agree that the collaborations and exchange of knowledge occurring in Venice are exciting there also seemed to be a consensus that ‘we must not just train thinkers’ and that technical skills must not lose their value. 

The next speaker of the morning was our only Irish national: Dr Eleanor Flegg. Eleanor is a writer and lecturer. Craft is her main inspiration although as she informed us, she does not consider herself ‘a champion to the cause of craft’ she writes about it because she finds it interesting. Eleanor’s talk was a personal favourite: though it had very little to do with glass, it had everything to do with the potential of writing to explore all kinds of art/objects.  She talked about the different types of writing that may be used in the context of writing about craft – how it is often indulgent writing, focusing on promoting the artist/gallery/material or bland information based around dates locations and statistics about the piece or person in question. Critical writing is less common but is something that perhaps should be considered more since, Eleanor pointed out, “the reason that I write at all is to find out what I think.” Our thoughts and opinions are rarely straightforward; the reflective process of writing can help us assess them more clearly. She referred to writing as “a making process – it’s just not three dimensional”. Eleanor is interested in finding new ways of writing about craft and she is currently writing a speculative fiction novel based on her experience of a ceramic artist’s work (the name eludes me, I apologise). She delighted us by reading an extract from it during her talk – it was the most unusual way of engaging with an object I've encountered and strangely captivating. 

A central point of Eleanor’s talk left lingering in my mind was the idea that we should be ‘pushing boundaries without being certain of the results’. She is pushing boundaries in her atypical craft writing practice just as exhibitions like Glasstress push boundaries and break material tradition. If the audience – who were largely makers and students - were to take just one thing away from her talk I hope it’s an appreciation of the power of writing as a tool towards understanding our own opinion and perhaps our own practice in a way that is just that little bit more considered and - no pun intended, crafted.

Jerome Harrington, 'Glass in the Expanded Field' - Diagram.

The third speaker of the morning was Jerome Harrington. Jerome is a UK artist with a background in glass making whose current work takes an ‘expanded’ view of working with glass. He is not so much interested in working with the material itself as investigating how it is culturally perceived and utilized.  Jerome broke his talk into 3 loose sections, based around the questions ‘why glass?’, ‘what is glass?’ and ‘what does glass mean?’. One of Jerome’s most interesting projects the audience found was his 2011 study of Glass in the Expanded Field. Based on Rosalind Krauss’s exploration of the expanded field of sculpture in the 1960s, Glass in the Expanded Field is a study of how glass makers identify themselves and their peers within the discipline: subjects orientated themselves on a diagram in proximity to either ‘prioritising of craft skill’ or ‘prioritising of concept’. The results of the study show a wide range of stances by makers as to where they position themselves in relation to the studio glass movement, to craft practice and to fine art.

 

Emer Lynch and our panel of speakers
(photo Michael Holly 2013)

The morning session concluded with a panel discussion featuring the three speakers and led by GSoI Vice-Chairperson Emer Lynch, a curator whose own practice has developed from her educational background in glass at the National College of Art and Design. Emer invited the audience to engage with the speakers and ask questions on issues raised in their lectures. The main subject that was discussed was the difference between glass art and glass craft, and if indeed there was a difference at all. The apparent consensus within the audience was that the labels are generally nothing more than ‘marketing categories’ and that in general the discussion is one that makers can become fixated with but the general public don’t particularly care about the distinction. Everyone in the audience seemed interested in the debate and I imagine that if time allowed we might have continued to pick the speakers brains all afternoon but time waits for no one and it was off to a delicious lunch of home-made curry, courtesy of the college canteen. Yum!

To be continued! 

 Written by Meadhbh McIlgorm 
GSoI Media and Communications Officer

Debbie Dawson in China

'I am Not Magnificent' - Debbie Dawson 

Congratulations to GSoI Chairperson Debbie Dawson who set off this week to China!  

Debbie will travel to Xi'an, China to represent Ireland  in an international sculpture symposium.
She will be part of an ambitious initiative involving selected practitioners from China and Europe. The project has been developed by of  EUNIC (the  European Union of National Institutes for Culture) and  Culture Ireland, Ireland's state agency for the promotion of Irish arts abroad. 

Debbie Dawson is a stained glass artist and head of the glass department at CIT, Crawford College of Arts and Design. Her work is concerned with inner dialogues and the notion of the ‘self’. 

Debbie  was nominated by the National Sculpture Factory (NFC) and has been selected through an intense competitive process. The selection panel was impressed by Dawson's work but also her established relationships with China developed through projects she has been working on in her capacity as a lecturer at CIT. 

Poster from 'Poetics of the Handmade'
- Which later travelled to NCAD Gallery, Dublin

Dawson is no stranger to Chinese relations, having built up a strong relationship with Prof. Xiao Wei Zhuang, Director of the MA in Glass at the College of Fine Art, Shanghai University, and the inaugural Director of the Shanghai Museum of Glass. Debbie has hosted a number of Chinese exchange students at CCAD over the last couple of years, and has delivered workshops in China. She was the curator of Xiao Wei’s outstanding  solo exhibition, “Poetics of the Handmade” which was held at CIT Wandesford Quay Gallery as part of Ireland’d Year of Craft in 2011. She has herself delivered workshops at Shanghai university and has exhibited in China.  She has been invited to Xian for 10 days as one of up to 10 European artist and she will meet her Chinese colleagues and  have the opportunity to engage in residencies and international institutional exchange.

Also travelling from Ireland is Mary McCarthy, Director of the National Sculpture Factory, Cork. Mary has been selected as one of six European speakers to deliver  a key note presentation and she has been invited to talk about the role of artists  in Ireland and the work of the NSF in expanding the definitions of sculpture and the possibilities for art works in the public realm.

'Like a Door Opening' - Debbie Dawson

Both Mary and Debbie have been invited and will be hosted by the prestigious Chinese National Academy of the Arts, EUNIC and the Shaaxi Provincial Department of culture while their travel is supported by Culture Ireland.

The conference topics include  space/Culture and Object. This is an exciting opportunity for both Debbie and Mary. Eric  Messerschmidt, President of EUNIC has been highly impressed by Ireland's desire to participate  in this event and the efforts of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht via Culture Ireland to enable this participation.

See more of Debbie's beautiful work on her website

Well done Debbie and best of luck on your trip! 

'Nobodys Girl' - Debbie Dawson 

GLASS GALORE! @Sculpture in Context,2013

Sculpture in Context - a must see event on the Dublin art calendar.

Set up in 1985 by sculptors who wanted to create exhibition space outside the normal white-cube gallery, Sculpture in Context now sees the grounds, ponds and glasshouses of the Botanic Gardens transformed each September into the biggest and most prestigious outdoor exhibition in Ireland.

      Sticky Bog Sundew - Gwyn Grace                        Vessels (of Remembrance) -  Alison Lowry 

This year over 150 artists from Ireland and abroad are exhibiting their work. 

Application is open to everyone and the successful applicants are selected by a panel of judges which changes annually. Thanks to this very democratic selection process there is always a great variety of entrants ranging from students to established artists and together working in almost every medium imaginable. 

The packed opening night reception

We know that we’re ever so slightly biased here at GSoI but as in this case the figures speak for themselves - Irish glass artists really held their own in the Gardens this year. 

There were 12 notable glass pieces amongst the collection from artists;

Karen Donnellan

 Naomi Draper

 Gwyn Grace 

Jesse Gunther,

Eve Kelly

Paivikki Kolehmainen (Finland) 

Alison Lowry

 Charlene McFarland

 Meadhbh McIlgorm 

Kira Myer

Sadhbh Mowlds 

Mags O’Dea.  

Further more, 2 out of the 3 Sculpture in Context Awards for large outdoor works of distinction in any medium were awarded to NCAD glass students: Jesse Gunther for his piece 'Desert Ophidians' (on view in the cactus house) and Mags O'Dea for her installation 'Tree Dressings' (a site-specific glass installation on a particularly weathered tree). Both Mags and Jesse received €500 each - well done guys! 

'Tree Dressings' - Mags O'Dea

The delighted Mags O'Dea with her prize

Both pieces were a big hit with the guests on opening night - watch this space - one of them could well be winning the prize for the most popular sculpture at the end of the exhibition in October.  

'Desert Ophidians' - Jesse Gunther 

The exhibition runs from September 5th - October 18th. Full programme of artists available in the visitor centre. 

Garden opening hours: 
Monday - Friday 9am to 5pm
Saturday & Sunday 10am - 6pm

Admission Free, Car Park €2

Karren Donnellan - Present Moment Reminder

 A visit to this exhibition is a lovely day out for all the family and a chance to see some very talented artists work outside the often intimidating setting of a gallery exhibit. 

So be sure to take a very cultured and colourful stroll through the Botanic Gardens before October 18th. 
We promise you won't be disappointed. 

Artists Michelle McDermott, Gwyn Grace, Mags O'Dea and Tara Butler-Frey
the enjoying opening night celebrations

Written by: Meadhbh McIlgorm 

ORIENTATE Symposium: Online booking now opening

​

Great news! Tickets for our Oct/Nov events are on sale now. We have a fantastic line up of international presenters for the Orientate Symposium in Cork including our keynote speaker Francesca Giubilei from GLASSTRESS (IT). There are also places available on our workshops in Cork and Dublin! Angela Thwaites will be leading a Glass Casting workshop in the National College of Art and Design (Dublin) and Cappy Thompson will teach a Glass Painting workshop at the National Sculpture Factory (Cork).

Buy Tickets HERE

GSoI Nov Events 2013

So we have had a very busy year so far at GSoI but its not over yet! In Nov we will be having  a series of exciting events in both Dublin and Cork - workshops, an exhibition and a conference with a fantastic line up of speakers...

 Here's a little taster so you can be sure to put us in your dairy!

CultureCraft: Craft in the Making @ The London Street Gallery, Derry

(If you haven't seen it yet there's still time, but hurry the final day, August 22nd is fast approaching!)

 CultureCraft: Craft in the Making is an engaging exhibition at the London Street Gallery that challenged 37 craft artists to create an original work in response to the question of culture and how that may or may not play a role in their practice. 

Derry-Londonderry has been named as the inaugural UK City of Culture 2013. CultureCraft is part of a series of events across the city that is both a response to and a celebration of the city's great achievement. The exhibition venue is located in the old part of the city, near the iconic walls so central to the political and cultural heritage of the city. The temporary gallery can be seen as a key symbol in the regeneration of a city with a rich but not always rosy history. It aims to promote both established and emerging artists and preform a social role within the arts community of the city.

Seliena Cloyle at CultureCraft

Derry native and contemporary jeweller Seliena Coyle curated the exhibition and it is safe to say that its outstanding success is a direct result of her passion and enthusiasm in the cause of promoting Irish craft and culture. Seliena's personal work is heavily involved with developing a new jewellery aesthetic that is sensitive to Irish heritage and cultural traditions. Asked about the exhibition she remarked that, 'People involved in craft will be surprised by this exhibition. Nothing of this standard in craft has ever happened before in the North West. It is going to be a real showcase for craft in Derry, and hopefully will inspire and create an environment where contemporary craft will be embedded in the city.'

The artists own cultural identities and backgrounds are as diverse as the materials they work with. Ranging from recent graduates to established professionals and educators in the fields of textiles, jewellery, glass, ceramics, felting, metalwork and mixed  media they are the crème de la crème of contemporary Irish craft-artists. CultureCraft aims to introduce the concept of craft as a vehicle for creative expression equal to the traditional 'fine arts' so both the artistic intention and the highly skilled craftsmanship are highlighted in the exhibition. 

Participating artists with the mayor of Derry

Here's a full list of participating artists: 

Glass work from Scott Benefield @CultureCraft

Tom Agnew, Neil Read, Alex Scott, Adam Frew, Peter Meanley, Gail Mahon, Peter Fulop (Glass) Scott Benefield, Caroline Madden, Peadar Lamb, Alva Gallagher, James Toal, Charlene McFarland Stuart Cairns, Rachel McKnight, Eily O Connell, Sabrina Meyns, Justyna Truchanowska, Cara Murphy, Angela O Kelly, Grainne Morton, Nigel Cheney, Helen McAllister,  Mary Cullen, Tara Ní Nuáillan, Liz Nilson, Caroline Schofield, Logan McLain, Brigitta Varadi, Liam Flynn, Joe Hogan, Richard Sinclair, Seliena Coyle, Deirdre O Callaghan, Suzanne Woods  

Nigel Cheeny's  printed and embroidered
tape measure @CultureCraft

It is often said that one of the reasons contemporary craft has a difficult time competing in the art market is the lack of critical and academic writing on the subject. Thankfully, the exhibition is contextualised by essays from a number of  leading academics, including Dr Audrey Whitty, Dr Jessica Hemmings, Dr Joseph McBrinn and Professor Declan McGonagle. Their essays will all feature in the CultureCraft catalogue, which will be available soon. 

Well done to all involved with this excellent exhibition and lets hope to see more like it soon.  

The project is sponsored by; Derry City Council, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Craft NI, Crafts Council of Ireland, Creative Village Arts, Inner City Trust and The Culture Company.

Check out this exhibition: London Street Gallery opening times: Tuesday - Saturday; 11am-4pm until August 22nd. Free entry, all welcome! 

For further information about the exhibition please contact:

culturecraftinthecity@gmail.com

londonstreetgallery@gmail.com

Web-links:  

http://www.londonstreetgallery.org

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/CultureCraft/145233802309679?fref=

http://pinterest.com/seliena/culturecraft/

Written by: Meadhbh McIlgorm 

Shanghai in Cork

Yanyan Wong and Shihui Zhang are exchange students from the Shanghai University of Fine Art. They spent three months in spring practicing glass, ceramic and textiles at C.I.T Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork. After six weeks of dedicated work, the girls showcased some pieces in the recently renovated foyer area of the college. 

Everybody at the college was delighted to see an influx of new and interesting material, and also such a great volume of work after six weeks. The girls were so friendly and enthusiastic; they really made their mark on the students. Not only was their lunchtime showcase pleasing to the eye, there was a wonderful social element between the girls, the students and our tutor, Debbie Dawson. It was a pleasure to be present at what may be the first of many glass showcases in the college. The new Applied Art course is starting up next September, our little glass community in the college will hopefully blossom.

Yan’s work uses glass, ceramic and textile.  Her practice is about flowers floating on the River Lee. She discovered the idea when she was rowing on the River Lee on her first Saturday in Cork. A beautiful permutation occurred in this work where Yan was able to merge the primary materials of glass, ceramic and textiles. Combining these materials brings about a new understanding of these elements; weight, density, texture. The transparency and two dimensional qualities of the glass give way to the more solid and three dimensional qualities of the ceramic. A beginning; Yan certainly seems to be creating something exciting here. She is intuitive, a quality that I have heard students speaking of at the Shanghai Academy. However, this natural intuition is always accompanied by careful consideration of the process.      

Focusing on material properties, Yan has used hard and soft material together. She describes this piece as “a contradictory work”. It’s a delicate type of contradiction. The glass is etched and then, like a patchwork quilt she has very affectionately worked the fibers around each panel. This work is one that is much more poignant when seen in the flesh. Gorgeous meditative oranges and subtle hints from other palettes flow. The river is truly present here. The piece is a river itself and each panel is presented as moment from its surface. It is a mix between a traditional Chinese scroll, a patchwork quilt, and a stained glass panel. We can see a beautiful synthesis of antiquity, complemented by a subtle sense of inventiveness. 

Shihuis’ work is about shape. She states “The most simple shape of the world is round, square and triangle”. She uses the plane of shape and the plane of material to make three-dimensional effects. Her work, in contrast to Yan’s, is more design based. The very careful execution of this simple concept makes for an interesting consideration of form. One associates the work with the inner workings of the cosmos; shapes construct other shapes, which in turn construct other shapes and so on. This approach plays on micro and macro imagery. Exploring how we all exist in this world in a physical alliance. It speaks of symbiosis; it is organic yet can also place itself in the realms of something practical and mathematical. Shihui had worked on many ways of conveying this sense of shape. It is simplicity she admires the most. This has provided an excellent platform from which to continue her endeavors. I am excited to see her progression with the work once she has settled back in Shanghai.

The quality and quantity of the work after just six weeks was something that took our students by surprise. We have all heard of the Chinese work ethic, however the girls seemed to have this and also some another magic behind them. Their dedication to all materials under investigation is to their credit. They dealt with each element appropriately and appeared to have no discomfort in showcasing their works or experimenting. They are proud and genuinely interested in both the material and conceptual relationships between the maker, material and the other life that the work emanates after it is has been granted freedom in the artistic realm. The girls visit was something of an inspiration, they displayed a mystical sense of wonderment about them. They carry themselves with an honest, polite grace that can be seen through their work. It is this honesty and pursuit of the self that has certainly rubbed off on myself and a notable few that have been to Shanghai on exchange, but also those who shared our glass-workshop with them. I feel as though I have visited their culture, I have yet to discover in what way. 

Written by Róisín Foley, C.I.T CCAD Glass, R.E.P Glass Society of Ireland